Culinary package



June 6, 1933. I l. BLUM 1,912,963

' CULINARY FAGKAGE Filed Jan. 1;, 1952 lsmclflumx, W

awn/M148 Patented June 6, 1 933 ISAAC BLUM, F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND CULINARY PACKAGE Application filed January 11, 1932. Serial No. 586,053.

This invention relates to a culinary packa e.

An object of the invention is to provide a culinary package containing the culinary material such as tea by a very simple and economical process of manufacture.

A further object is to make a package of this character by simple folding operations on a piece of loosely woven fabric or similar 0 material with a minimum amount of sewing to completely form and enclose the material in the package.

A further object is to provide a culinary package containing tea or similar material and providing ample room for expansion of the material during process of infusion.

A further object is to provide a process for making a package of this character which consists in folding a piece of fabric so as to form a sack or package for the reception of the culinary material and requiring to be sewed or stitched merely along one edge of the package in a straight line.

Referring to the drawing, which is made i a part of this application and in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts. 1

Fig. 1 is a plan View of a piece of fabric of generally rectangular form from which the package is made,

' Fig. 2 is a plan view of the fabric shown in Fig. 1 folded along a middle line,

Fig. 3 shows the same fabric with the free edges folded back on the main portion of the fabric.

Fig. 4 is a view of the folded fabric made by folding the construction shown in Fig. 3 along its middle line, and

Fig. 5 shows the complete package containing the culinary material with a tag at tached thereto by means of a cord or other flexible attaching means.

While the package of this invention is primar ily intended as a container for brewing tea 1t may nevertheless be used for coffee or other similar material. Since devices of this character are made up for individual use and contain only sufficient tea usually to make a single cup or pot of tea it follows that an extremely large number of such packages is consumed by the public daily. It becomes desirable therefore to make up these packages as cheaply as possible and with that end in view the device of this invention is made up by simply folding a piece of fabric such as cheese cloth or other loosely woven material ilrsuch form "as to provide a pocket or package for holding the tea or similar mate-- rial and then running a single straight line of stitching across the one and only open end of the folded package.

According to this invention a new process of folding has been provided. Considering Fig. 1 which shows a piece of fabric such as cheese cloth the'process comprises folding 05 the fabric which is rectangular in shape and preferably square along a middle line as indicated at 2-2. This step of folding provides the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing where the fabric is shown as doubled about its center line. The next step is to fold the two free edges of the fabric which are parallel to the line 22 along the line 33. The width of the folded over portion of the free edges of the fabric is pref- 15 erably about one-third of the width of the doubled fabric. After the second folding operation the fabric has the. appearance shown in Fig. 3 wherein the folded edges are shown as covering substantially one half of 30 the sack. The next step is to fold the article i as shown in Fig. 3 about its middle line H forming a construction such as that indicated in Fig. 4.

When the fabric has been folded as indig5 cated in Fig. 4 the tea or other material to be treated is inserted between either of the outside walls of the sack and the other layers of the fabric. In this figure the material may be inserted between the top layer 9 andthe immediately adjacent under layer 10. It will be apparent from the manner of folding that two pockets will be formed in the construction as shown in Fig. 4 one on either side of the container. Either of these pockets may receive the tea since they are identical in construction. In folding the fabric which obviously may be done by hand the pocket for reception of the tea may be opened by hand or by'any other suitable means so that lot the tea may be inserted therein. In manufacturing the device by machinery a form which is used during the folding operation as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3 may be employed to spread the side pocket of ig. 4 for the insertion of a'filling material.

After the material has been inserted in one of the side pockets of the device as indicated in Fi 4 the open end of the devicemay be closed y stitching across as indicated at 11 in- Fig. 5. This figure also shows the right-hand end of the package'enlarged by reason of its being filled with the filling material such as tea. The quantity of tea used in each individual package is that customarily used in the ordinary tea package or tea ball and the size of the fabric for each packa e is chosen so that when the material is folded in the manner indicated and the tea inserted the package or bag will not be filled for more than about two-thirds of its length. This is clearly indicated in Fig. 5. This is very desirable since it is well known that tea leaves when placed in hot water will swell and the bag is so constructed as not to necessarily restrict the swelling operation of the tea leaves and thereby prevent the complete infusion. This package provides sufficient spacefor swelling of the leaves and does not bind when the package is left in the water the necessary time to properly extract the essence of the tea. 1 I

It will be apparent from the construction described that the tea leaves are not restricted in expansion by reason of the fact that =sufiicient space is provided in 'thesack for the normal expansion and also that one side of the sack is capable of slight opening to permit the full expansion of the leaves without restriction. This is due to the fact that the sack is folded with its free edges turned in on one side and is only stitched across the open end of the sack. This characteristic is indicated by the slight opening of the sides of the sack as indicated at 12 in Fig. 5. There are no free or frayed edges of the material left in position to come into contact with the water when the sack is placed therein. The free edges are folded in and the frayed edges of the end of the sack are protected by the line of stitching running across the end. The usual tag 8 is attached to the bag by means 'of a string or cord 7 as indicated in Fig. 5 or it may be attached by means of a clip or staple. InFig. 5 the thread is knotted at one end and is run through the bag and attached to the tag. The manner of attachment of the tag is not essential to this invention;

In the device as illustrated the package is shown as substantially twice as long as it is "wide. This is due to the fact that a substantially square piece of fabric is employed in its manufacture. The package might of course be made square in its finished form if fabric of a suitable form is employed in the making. It is considered however of advantage to make the package in the form shown since this construction provides a substantially long bag which is only partly filled by the tea and for the further reason that it requires very little sewing to close the open end. Bags of this character have beenv made heretofore but all of them required stitching along at least two sides or along a curved line. This obviously slowed up the operation of manufacture since they are usually made by machines which sew in a straight line or the article is necessarily passed under the maheretofore known and the time of manufacture is materially shortened. This is a matter of great importance in manufacturing devices of this character which must be made in enormous quantities, and it is clear that any saving in the time of manufacture either by simplicity in the construction of a container or in saving time in closing the container is ,of great importance.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A tea bag comprising piece of fabric folded upon itself andhaving its two free edges folded back upon the body portion, the folded piece being again folded midway of its length on a line at right angles to the first fold line with the free side edgesinside, a quantity of tea inserted between one outer fold and the other folds and said bag having a line of stitches across its free end to close the bag.

2. A tea bag comprising a fabr c strip folded upon. itself and having its two free edges folded back upon the body port on, the piece being again folded about its middlein a line at right angles to the first fold line with the free edges inside, a quantity of tea inserted between one outer fold and the other folds and means for closing the open end of the bag.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

ISAAC BLUM.

I claim as new and desireto put 

